Staff reports
NEW PALESTINE — Shelby Hatfield Couch has been selected to receive an Indiana Library Federation Sue Marsh Weller Memorial Scholarship for 2018.
The Sue Marsh Weller Memorial Scholarship Fund provides funding for at least one scholarship for applicants entering or enrolled in an American Library Association-accredited program of graduate study specializing in children’s librarianship with plans to work with children or youth.
Couch works part-time as youth services assistant at the Sugar Creek Branch of the Hancock County Public Library.
Couch works primarily with teens by planning programs and maintaining the teen collection.
She is pursuing her Master of Library Science with a specialty in youth services from Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis and will graduate in May 2019.
Couch has lived in the same city as the library where she works since she was young and was a patron long before she was an employee.
She grew up walking to the library as a child and then became a volunteer as a teenager.
She worked at the library previously as a high school student and then came back to work in the circulation department during college. From there, she moved in to her current position.
Couch aspires to be a teen librarian.
Indiana Library Federation is the statewide nonprofit association for academic, public, school and special libraries and the staff and volunteers who support them. ILF leads, educates and advocates to advance library services for the benefit of Indiana residents.
